Happy Hours

In one frame,a child peeps from behind a closed door and in another,a group of tiny ones enjoy a moment of luxury of a plush car — it is only on a closer look that one can decipher that these are all special children. Photographer Navdeep Sandhu’s ongoing exhibition at the Government Art Gallery in Sector 10,titled “The Door Wide Open”,captures “normal” moments in an otherwise difficult life.

The exhibition,organised in collaboration with Hope and Compassion,a UK-based NGO,takes viewers on a trip to All India Pingalwara Charitable Society in Amritsar — a home for the disabled and abandoned. “I have been visiting Pingalwara since I was a child and know the children behind the faces. I have tried to portray them,” says Sandhu,as she stands surrounded by 52 photographs,mostly black-and-white that capture various moods,expressions and pranks of these children.

Among the best photographs are a series of six that have captured the play of light and shadow and show no face. “These are symbolic pictures that depict aspects of lost childhood and of a carefree life that all children are entitled to,” says Sanshu,who is also the head of the performing arts department at Springdales Senior School in Amritsar.

The exhibition has already travelled to Ludhiana and Sandhu plans stopovers in Patiala,Amritsar and a few other cities in Punjab. “The exhibition is my way of appealing to the society to open its doors wide and accept these special children into the mainstream,instead of abandoning or alienating them,” she adds.